Fresh affidavit in Ishrat case, Centre ready for new probe

The Centre today filed a fresh affidavit in Gujarat high court in the sensational Ishrat Jahan encounter case, saying it never justified the police action and indicating its readiness for an independent enquiry, a move aimed at pushing the Gujarat government on the defensive.

"The Centre is not concerned with the merits of the action taken by the Gujarat police and anything stated in the (earlier) affidavit was not intended to support or justify the action of the state police," the new affidavit says.

"If, on a proper consideration of the facts, it is found that an independent enquiry and investigation has to be carried out, the Centre would have no objection to this and would abide by the decision of the court," the affidavit filed by RVS Mani, under secretary (internal security) in the ministry of home affairs, said.

Taking cover under the Union home ministry's earlier affidavit that Ishrat and three others killed with her on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on July 15, 2004 had links to terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Gujarat government had sought to justify their killing in a police encounter.

The Gujarat police had claimed that the four were planning major terror strikes, including a mission to assassinate chief minister Narendra Modi. However, metropolitan magistrate SP Tamang, who probed the encounter and submitted his report earlier this month, held the Ahmedabad police guilty of perpetrating the "cold blooded murder" of 19-year-old Ishrat, Javed Ghulam Sheikh alias Pranesh Kumar Pillai, Amjad Ali alias Rajkumar Akbar Ali Rana and Jisan Johar Abdul Gani.

In his 243-page hand-written report, Tamang not only rubbished the police claim of their LeT links but also accused the then police commissioner KR Kaushik, Crime Branch chief PP Pandey, his then deputy DG Vanzara, who is at present in jail in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh murder case and encounter specialist Tarun Borat of killing the four for personal interest like promotions and earning the appreciation of chief minister Modi.

However, rejecting Tamang's report that it termed as "bad in law", the Gujarat government moved the high court, which stayed it following which Union home minister P Chidambaram  slammed the state government saying it can't justify the killings using the "shield" of central intelligence inputs.

"If a state government acts as though intelligence inputs are evidence or conclusive proof, I am sorry for that state government... Certainly no one suggested that based on an intelligence input you should kill someone," Chidambaram had said. The fresh affidavit filed by the MHA has said, "the central government in the said affidavit did not address any issue relating to the merits or otherwise of the police action".

It was essentially concerned with the dealing of allegations relating to the intelligence inputs which were available with the central government and which are shared on a regular basis with the state governments, it said.

"It should be clear to all that such inputs do not constitute conclusive proof and it is for the state government and the state police to act on such inputs," the new affidavit said, adding "the central government is in no way concerned with such action nor does it condone or endorse any unjustified or excessive action."

Meanwhile, reacting to the additional affidavit filed by the centre, the Gujarat government dubbed it as a "nervous" action.

"Why is the UPA government so nervous in this matter? By filing the affidavit, it has virtually triggered a media trial instead of waiting for the decision of the Gujarat high court
which has formed a committee to investigate whether the incident was a fake encounter or not," its spokesman Jaynarayan Vyas said.

"We would have liked if the four killed were caught alive so that we could have questioned them about the actual person behind the conspiracy of killing the Gujarat chief minister," Vyas said.